Viewtiful Joe Shop Translation and Boss
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Contents
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I - Shop Translation
II - Beating the Bosses
General Tips
1 - Charles
2 - Davidson
3 - Gran
4 - Another Joe
5 - Alastor
6 - Leo
7 - King Blue
8 - Captain Blue
I Shop Translation
-------------------
Cheeseburger - Same as what it does in the game. Seeing as you don't get your
energy back between sections, can be useful if you are looking not to continue.
Shocking Pink - 10 bombs. Hold down the Kick button to use it. If you are not
sure, wait until lev 3, you can pick some up for free, try them out.
Voomerang - 10 boomerangs. Hold down punch. Quite cool, and effect some bosses
in interesting ways or may some enemies a *lot* easier, but never vital.
Sliding - Down + kick. Slide along the ground. Sometimes good for linking
combos together.
Air Joe - In the air, alternate between punch and kick. Produces a nice mid-air
combo.
Redhot Kick - Down + kick in the air. A downward slide kick, the angle of which
is also sometimes good for collecting objects.
Mach Speed 2 / 3 - After buying level 2, level 3 goes on sale. Increases the
number of after-image Joes that appear during Mach Speed. Useful for getting
the boxes in the background quicker, and level 3 is pretty much a must have for
the first half of the final boss.
Viewtiful Forever - When in the auto-dodge (during slow) zoom in. Can be
already zoomed in when the dodge starts. Pretty useful, uses all your FX bar up
but clears out all the enemies around you - and a dodge takes so much VFX you
are pretty drained by this point anyway. Also very useful on bosses.
Ukemi - just before you hit the ground after being knocked over, zoom in. You
*cannot* do this move by just being zoomed in all the time, you have to do the
zoom at the right point. Reduces the damage from knockdown moves, (most of
which have *big* damage, making this quite useful.)
VFX Turbo Charger - Speeds up the recovery of your FX bar. Buy this first. The
very first thing you buy. It makes the game a lot easier, just because you will
turn back into Viewtiful so much quicker, and have a lot more FX to use. No
special move is better than this.
Life - Add another life marker to the top of the screen. Starts cheap, gets
expensive. Very expensive. In fact, *massively* expensive. But worth it,
obviously - and toward the end of V-Rated, you won't have much else to spend
money on.
Take 2 - When you die, your hearts will just fill back up on the spot and you
carry on. Useful for boss battles and the like, and stays pretty cheap.
LIV - An extra life. Nice if you don't want to continue or need to get through
a long section (first half of level 5 and level 6 come to mind) without
continue points. But gets more expensive each time you buy one, until you reach
20,000 at which point they will always cost this much.
II - Beating the Bosses
-----------------------
General Tips
Fighting the bosses in the rock hard game comes down to one thing - a pattern.
Especially on Adult, the bosses will repeat the same attacks until they die,
never really getting any harder or bringing out any near-death attacks, so what
you need is to find a pattern that eliminates all chance of being hit, and then
just repeat this flawlessly. That is what this FAQ is here for. Then, the real
skill in boss battles comes from dealing with when this pattern is broken - but
it is best to avoid this altogether.
Also, the best boss tip there is - a slow red hot one hundred (zoom and punch).
Aside from Alastor (and Charles for the first time, because you won't have
zoom) I have found this to be the best attack for hitting every boss. During
the FAQ, this move will be referred to as the SlowZ-RHOH.
The strategies are based upon my experiences on Adult and V-Rated modes, and
will include tips for fighting them during level 6. I may later add to the FAQ
to include info on fighting bosses in Ultra V-Rated.
1 - Charles the Bat
-------------------
If you hit him whilst he is flying around, he will split up into a lot of
little bats. Killing each of these will cause him a little damage, and gives
you some Vs, but aside from using this to stop him throwing his boomerangs
there is little point in beating him his way.
When he does throw the boomerangs, you have two choices. Drop off the ledge and
into the water below, and then run back to the start - if up jump as much as
possible, you should not get hurt. This takes quite a lot of time though. You
can also jump over them, and then watch carefully for when they come back. Use
slow to dodge them if you feel things are a little tight, but make sure your
VFX recovers before you attack him so that you have a full bar.
Then he will hover for a moment - you will see dust blown up on the ground from
his wings - and spiral up into the air. If you are unsure about dodging the
falling stalactites, use slow to check their positions. Then Charles will move
back and forth for a short while. Now is your chance. Again, use slow if you
wish to make sure of a hit. Uppercut one of the stalactites up into the air so
that it hits him. He will drop to the ground. You know have time to give him a
pasting before he recovers and flies back up into the air. Be warned though -
this recovery will hurt you if you are close. It is best to hit him in slow
anyway for more damage, (and zoom if you have it), and so you will dodge his
recovery so long as you have some VFX left. If you change back to Joe, get out
of there.
On level 6, if you dodge him when recovering then you can always just take it
to a Viewtiful Forever and repeat.
He will also sometimes perform a vortex like spinning move across the screen.
He will do this four times in a row, at the height at which Joe is when he
starts the move. If you slow him down, you can hit him out of it and then get
dizzy hits like above.
There is also another method of beating him, which in theory does not allow him
to attack at all - but which requires some Voomerangs. By level 6 you should
have picked some up, even if you never buy them. Anyway, after knocking him to
the ground, proceed to lay into him as normal, but stop before he recovers and
*before* you change back into normal Joe. Back away to a decent Voomerang
distance and quickly hold down punch to start one up. When he recovers and
flies up into the air, he will do a boomerang attack almost right away.
However, unleash your Voomer before he does do - it will hit him, and knock him
back to the ground. Your VFX should have recovered enough for another beating.
Rinse and repeat. So long as your Voomers last, I don't see why you can't do
this forever.
On stage 6, be sure to collect all the film reels on the screen as quickly as
possible. If you do so, you will get 60, and so an extra block of VFX, which
will be vital here, and also set you up for another block during Davidson who
comes next. To get the box in back ground, knock him down and use Mach Speed so
your after images collect it, and for the ones too high to jump to, uppercut a
stalactite into them during slow.
2 - Hulk Davidson, the Rhino
-----------------------------
Hulk will react in numerous ways to various attacks, and knowing his reaction
and the correct response is the way to beat him. The biggest problem here is
the screen size - he will often be off screen, making it hard to tell if he has
lost his axe, is about to charge, is jumping around, whatever. Use sounds as
you guide here.
His basic attack pattern is to jump into the air 2 - 3 times. The red splash
which he lands will damage you, so don't get too close. If you move up close to
him when he is on the ground, he will swing his axe and three skull marks will
appear low. This attack with *always* be low, making it very easy to dodge. You
can now hit him if you like, but even a SlowZ-RHOH will not do much damage. If
you remain at a distance, then he will throw his axe at you. This will bounce
around the room for a while, unless you get him, and then he will catch it
again.
If you stay close to him, then after 2-3 axe swings he will get ready to
charge, (I believe he says something like "Time to say goodnight.") He does not
"rev up" for very long before he charges, so get out the way by jumping onto
one of the platforms above. It can be hard to tell when he has hit the wall
even if you are on one of the lower platforms, but you will get a feel for the
timing of this move after you have seen it a few times. If it hits you, will
get a very big feel for it - ukemi can save you a little of that heartache.
Once he hits the wall, you can lay out some big damage. Obviously SlowZ-RHOH is
your best bet here. You will not really be able to see much of his reaction,
but if you notice that he has turned around, if you see his axe handle blocking
your attacks or if you see the big red skull mark of death (BRSMOD), turn
around and Mach Speed out of there. It is best to *never* take this until you
lose Viewtiful - always Mach Speed away somewhere during your last bar of VFX,
at the latest.
If you make a clean escape, the chances are he will return to bouncing and you
can repeat this process. This is probably the best way to beat him, and if done
smoothly it will go quite quickly and you may never see his other attacks.
Another way is, when he throws the axe, slow to make sure it will miss you,
then Mach Speed under it and lay into his unprotected hide. If you time this
right, you can get a lovely SlowZ-RHOH into him without him getting away.
If you attack him in slow or with a SlowZ-RHOH at any other time, he will block
the attacks on the handle of his axe. Keep this up, and there is a good chance
the big red skull mark of death will appear. This can be dodged, but this
attack hitting the ground will also cause the napalm to fall from the ceiling,
and probably lead to missile attacks, neither of which are good.
However, if you attack in moderation, then eventually his axe will break. Now
you can lay a beating on his unprotected self - although he is likely to call
some Napalm or missiles which may cause you trouble. It can also be hard to
tell where he is on the screen, and when he is going to get a new axe.
If the napalm falls, and you get set ablaze, use Mach Speed to put yourself out
before you get hurt. This is more an annoyance than anything, but it prevents
you from being able to stand still and attack him as you will get damaged.
If the desk in the back opens up, then missiles will come out. Using a slow
zoom spinning kick will repel them easily, but also take quite a bit of VFX to
get them all. If you do repel them all, and no napalm gets in your way, you may
well find that he will lose his axe to the missile damage. Again, it can be
hard to tell if he has or not, and often he will be collecting a new one before
you realize the old one was gone.
For safety, I recommend the close axe dodging charge technique, although you
must be careful of his the charge attack because the damage is massive. During
stage 6, collect all the film reels and when he hits the walls, Mach Speed
rather than SlowZ-RHOH to get the boxes in the background. A box hidden behind
the desk gives you 10 reels, and these + the others in the room + the ones from
Charles will give you 2 extra blocks of VFX.
3 - The Shark
--------------
Probably the easiest boss, just because you can do *so* much damage to him.
When it starts, run up to him and start a SlowZ-RHOH right away. He may start
spitting stuff from his mouth, which you will dodge, or he will turn away and
use the tornado like attack which will also cause you to dodge and push you
away.
Then he will start his main attack - flying through the air toward you,
snapping his jaws. He will travel in a straight line for a short time - get a
feeling for how long this is based upon how long the snapping sound goes on for
and get into this rhythm. He will change direction 7 times, each time heading
toward where Joe is at that point. I find it best to stay on the far left, out
of water section of the screen, and lead him in a triangle.
After the 7th time, he will start panting. Now is your chance. A SlowZ-RHOH
will really cream him now, especially out of the water.
Eventually he will use the spinning attack, or recover. Now he will probably
head into the water. Follow him *right away*, because if he starts panting in
the water he will get energy back. Catch up with him, and SlowZ-RHOH again,
which will lead to you dodging again eventually.
Now the screen will fill with water. He will spit out fish - either a set of
piranhas who will chase after you (zoom spinning kick will take them out) or
others which will just travel straight until they hit a wall. Then he will
twirl and mines will appear. Quickly position yourself (preferably back up on
the left side, which will be out of the water again later) with a mine directly
between you and him. He may swim a little to position himself first, so be
careful. Then he will start the chomping attack again. So long as I hit a mine,
it will stick in his mouth. Move in for the attack, SlowZ-RHOH by all means but
not for too long.
The water will now go down, and it should be back to chomping. If you are
close, he may throw things from his mouth again. However, even on stage 6, even
on V-rated, you will not have to do this many times to kill him.
4 - Another Joe
---------------
Annoying because you can fight him for a long time without really getting
anywhere.
The secret is to always keep as close to him as possible. He has two main
attacks. When he says "Henshin a go go baby" spinning images will emerge from
him, and either rotate around him or around you. You can destroy the ones
around him with a zoom spinning kick (which is your friend during this battle.)
If they are around you, he will also send images flying from the background.
Don't slow down, but zoom and use the spinning kick repeatedly. The secret here
is that you can zoom out to check what is happening and then zoom back in
*without* stopping spinning, if you are quick enough. To deal with the images
he is throwing and the ones around you, you will have to push your VFX to the
max, and you won't dodge the images attacks in slow so there is no Viewtiful
Forever get out clause. However, once you have tried this method a few times,
as with everything, you will get used to it. Also, even on level 6, you should
have plenty of VFX by now.
If he says "Henshin a bye bye" then he will lay images across the platforms. If
you can find and hit the real him whilst he is doing this, you can stop the
attack, but this is quite hard. Otherwise, wait until he says it again - which
means the images will start to attack - and start spinning. I sometimes find
that jumping and then descending spinning can help. Also, this method is not
100% perfect - unfortunately, although very rarely, the images will sometimes
hit you.
When he calls Six Machine, deal with the craft as quickly as possible. Two slow
hits will knock it from the air, and then finish it off on the ground. I have
tried using it's bombs / shot against the boss, but to no real effect. If you
think there is something there, please try it, as it is one angle I have not
fully covered. Anyway, Six will always drop a hamburger, which is very useful.
Also, to get the boxes in the background on level 6, knock him to the ground in
that area and then Mach Speed. There are maybe 2 burgers, the rest are Vs.
If he is doing the shot attack, be careful. If you use slow, the shots will get
bigger, just like they did when you used the craft on stage 3. These will then
a lot more damage. If you hit him from above or below you will have an easier
time preventing this.
Now you just need to stay as close to him as you can. When he starts an attack
he is vulnerable, so SlowZ-RHOH him. You will hit about 5 times and then he
will spin kick, you will dodge. Viewtiful Forever if you like - it will kill
any images nearby.
Sometimes he will do a skull mark attack - be sure that you have actually
dodged it before counterattacking and a SlowZ-RHOH will do a full 5. Sticking
close to him and putting the pressure on is the way to do it. When jump between
platforms to get to him, however, be careful not to zoom too early to start the
SlowZ-RHOH - you will do the downwards dive and almost no damage, making him
run away. He tends on hang around on the sets of platforms on either side of
the generator, rather than at the end.
5 - Alastor - The Midnight Thunderboy
--------------------------------------
Here, do not use the SlowZ-RHOH. The first blow will send the poor thunderboy
flying, and you will have tougher time doing more damage. Instead, don't bother
slowing down, just do the move at normal speed. Even on V-rated level 6 this
should get an energy bar each time.
Alastor is not that hard because you can keep the pressure on him quite easily.
The air raid is easy to dodge because when the move starts, a flicker of
lightening (that won't hurt you) will show you where the move is going to hit.
Just get out the way of this before the real attack comes.
If he uses round trip, a slow zoom spinning kick will send the swords back at
him, which - whilst not great damage - is better than nothing. However, he will
throw a lot of swords, and so your VFX bar will not last to return them all in
this way. Either hit them normally, or your double jumps to lure them up into
the air.
When lightening falls from the round things flying in the air, you have a few
choices. Hitting one of them will stop it where it is. Jump on top of one and
you can ride is around. These are not especially hard to avoid alone, they just
make taking time to hit him a little harder.
If he uses vortex, which is quite rare, at worst slow and dodge it. To be
honest, I have seen this attack (and indeed stinger) so few times that I don't
really know if you can take advantage of it in any way.
If you knock him into the larva than he will appear dazed in the closest
fountain. This is a great chance to RHOH him.
His ultra violet kick can be dodged much like Captain Blue's kick, best to try
and get under the arch of it and then hit him in the back. You can always knock
him to the ground if you can find and hit him in the air, and just avoiding his
attacks will give you plenty of chances to do so.
6 - Leo
-------
Ok, this is the tough one. Definitely the hardest boss in the game.
As soon as it starts, get up to a rock and Mach Speed punch it until you get
set on fire. This will protect you from the fireballs. Then head toward him.
However, *don't* attack him straight away. Instead, Mach Speed again on the
closest rock to him, to build your burning time back up. As there is no
"burning meter" or whatever, again, this relies on your experience with
burning, and getting a feel for how long you need to attack for.
Then hit him and immediately jump away. His flames will go out, but you will
probably still have some fireballs flying around the area. If you start to
attack him right away, these can easily hit you in the back. The rock you
attacked before you hit him should have given you enough burn to make it
through until the fireballs disappear - if you are not sure, use slow if any
come close and jump between them.
Once the fireballs are gone, move up to him. Skull marks will appear, so dodge
his attack and then hit him 3 times in slow. He will attack again, dodge and
then start to hit him in slow again. After 3-4 more his shield will break. Now
comes the *vital* part, especially on V-rated - zoom in right away and get 2
hits with a SlowZ-RHOH. Only 2. Then zoom back out and dodge the attack that
follows.
Although this does not do a massive amount of damage, you will find that it
adds up. Also, on V-rated, when his energy goes into the second-to-last bar, he
will go *crazy*. Insane. Moving at a super fast speed, and become highly
unpredictable. If you use this extra SlowZ-RHOH every time, you will only have
to face this crazy beast once. If you don't, then you will have to face it
twice, and even with full energy it can easily wipe you out.
OK. So now he will start spinning on the spot. He with make two different types
of growl - one for high attack, and one for low. Obviously there are also skull
marks (unless you are playing Ultra V-rated... but let us not go there.) You
can use the sounds, but I prefer to slow when he growls, see which one it is,
and then unslow and react. After 5 dodges, he will be dizzied. SlowZ-RHOH him
for 5 hits. He will leap into the flames.
And then jump out again. At the moment he jumps out, I find it prudent to use a
little Mach Speed and dash along the platform a little - there is a chance that
he will decide to come out right on top of you. Then he will start to run
around spitting out the rocks that you need to use to flame up. If you have to
jump over him, do so in slow, just incase you have to avoid a rock. And, when
you are on the ground, use slow to make sure the falling ones are not going to
hit you. If you happen to dodge one when jumping him *and* when one comes down,
this will probably rob you of Viewtiful, and may well get you hurt seeing as
you won't be able to flame up in time.
This boss gets really tricky when he decides to break his pattern, or when he
stops on the edge of one of the gaps in the platform. In the gap case, just
make sure you are well fired up before heading over. If he breaks his pattern -
sometimes he will just decide to jump back into the fire without giving you a
chance to hit him, for example - always think of what move his going to be
doing next, and use slow to keep your wits and bearings. There is nothing worse
them him leaping into the flames and then coming out right on top of you, but
it can be avoided if you think clearly.
It takes 10 or so times on V-rated to take him down, and with him getting
harder at the end, you will need a lot of skill, patience, and practice, to
beat him. However, the smaller, finer points I have detailed here will
definitely help - get fired up again right before you hit him, make sure the
fireballs have vanished before you attack him, use the SlowZ-RHOH after the
shield breaks for that little bit more damage, Mach dash when he jumps out just
in case.
7 - King Blue
--------------
As soon as it starts, he will be floating around in the background. He will
actually come forward enough for you to hit him here, so do so.
The key to air hitting King Blue is this. Jump, slow when you are alongside
him, and punch. *Then* zoom in. This will prevent you from doing the downward
dive in the air, which may make you lose your position. This is actually a
great tip for the game as well, if you wish to do a spinning kick in the air or
whatever and don't want the dive to come out. Anyway.
Then just SlowZ-RHOH him. This first time, he will not attack, so you can go
right to the end of your VFX, although best not to use it all.
For his basic lightening attack, just *stand still*. This is one of the few
attacks in video game history, that I can think of, which requires you to stand
still to avoid it. But it makes sense.
Then, the missile command tower will emerge from the ground, and King Blue will
start to do crazy lightening attacks. Don't worry. When the tower starts to
emerge, make sure you are right next to it. As soon as it is high enough, Mach
Speed and start to pound it. Your after-images will fly into the background and
hit Blue, *stopping his attack.* This lightening attack is very hard to avoid
otherwise. When there is a big ship in the background, your after-images will
also destroy that as well.
Keep an eye out for the missiles in the background. Unfortunately, as far as I
can tell, there is no way of telling if they are going to fly on high or low. I
thought maybe it was related to them starting from the left or right, but it
does not seem to be. Anyway knows how to tell this, let us know.
But anyway, keep pounding the tower and watch out for the missiles. If they are
high, you ignore them until the second-to-last one, crouch that one, then jump
the last one. Use slow liberally until you know if they are high or low. If
low, jump, dodge or punch the first one, and then crouch the second.
Then finish off the tower using Mach. It will sometimes drop a hamburger (I
think maybe on the 4th or 5th time.) Although the images will not do massive
damage to him, it stops his attacks, gets rid of the laser from the background
and all damage adds up.
He will then do a normal lightening attack. Just stay still. If you jump, don't
double jump, as the animation from this alone can be enough to push you into
damage.
Now the Die Fighter attack. Double jump and kick or punch twice in the air to
hang there for a moment - this should lead the fighters off. Then, using his
now floating cane as a guide, drop down next to him, slow, punch, zoom,
SlowZ-RHOH. If you do this for too long then the lightening from the cane will
start up and hit you, so again, get a feel for how long you can push this.
Normally into your last bar of VFX is OK.
Then drop to the ground and crouch. Even at its lowest point, the lightening
from the cane won't hit you if you are crouching. He will also make lightening
rain on all sides, but just stay still.
The big ship will have appeared in the background and so you will have the
laser to contend with as well. If it is going to hit you when you are crouched,
obviously you can't move, so slow and dodge it.
Then the missile tower will come out again. Get some images out as quickly as
possible to stop his attacks and destroy the big ship. Be mindful of the lasers
movements here - you may have to dodge it before it stops completely.
Which brings up back to the missiles, and back around. Rinse and repeat.
Actually pretty... easy?
8 - Captain Blue
----------------
The full powered blue fights much like his earlier versions, aside from a new
rain of lightening attack which is pretty tough to avoid. Actually, I am not
sure *how* to avoid it.
The best method I have found is, when it starts, double jump and then kick /
punch to hang in the air *above* the effects of the lightening.
However, he is quite easy to pressure. Keep close to him. SlowZ-RHOH will do
plenty of damage even on a normal hit, and even on V-rated he does not have
much energy.
The times you are really looking to hit him is when his aura "disperses." If
you dodge one of his skull mark attacks, or if the lightening uppercut misses,
you will see the blue aura around him fly off, leaving him unprotected. Now you
can SlowZ-RHOH him to your hearts content.
He will often jump away from you and then quickly come back with a Captain Blue
kick - Mach Speed under him, and then close from behind and get some hits in.
He is basically a composite of the three versions your fought earlier, and so
learning his attacks in these previous, more controlled conditions will help
you a great deal here. He is really not that hard, though, especially after -
dare I say - level 6.
Version History
---------------
Release 0.5 - Boss stuff based on Adult and V-Rated, as Joe. Shop translation
with a few tips. Thinking of adding some stuff once I finish Ultra-V.
Other Stuff
-----------
Thanks to Capcom for the best, and hardest, action game since Devil May Cry. I
fear that Ultra V may well be harder than Dante Must Die. Gotta love all the
DMC references as well. "Trigger me baby!"
In case you are wondering, all stuff relating to this game is the copywrite of
respective owners and so on.
Also, if you want to use this FAQ, or any part of it, or anything, please let
me know. However, I really intend for it to just stay up on GameFAQs.com.
If you have any pointers, questions, more tips, whatever, you can mail me on
sonsaru@hotmail.com.